The 37th annual Melissa’s Road Race is back, including a Parks Canada-approved 21-kilometre half-marathon, Saturday (Sept. 24).
The wildly popular race, which sees as many as 5,000 competitors of all ages take part, though, is suffering, like many events, due to the economic downturn in the province.
The purpose of the race is multifaceted, said organizer Bunny Julius, who points out the event has raised $110,000 for local charities over the years.
“The whole idea is to bring people to town to fill bars and hotels,” said Julius. “It’s one of the busiest weekends of the year and in Canmore, even the Wood and Drake find it’s one of the busiest.
“The hope is it’ll be busy again this year. And it’s a fun event for everybody, we even had kids four years old run last year. And on Sunday, we close the bar to have a party for all the volunteers, with beer, food and prizes donated by our generous sponsors.”
The Melissa’s race was dubbed best in Alberta last year, and has made the top three list several times, but registration are down somewhat, said Julius, hovering at about the 4,000 mark. As well, as many as 200 volunteers are needed to stage a successful fundraising run, so more are needed.
“This is the number one event in the valley and normally we sell out in three days, so registrations are down a little,” he said. “We just want to get the word out to people that there are still openings.
“This race has been around for a lot of years and we’ve been able to provide funds for a lot of different groups. We’ve donated to the Banff Canmore Community Foundation, to rugby teams, YWCA, to schools, kindergarten and the daycare.
“This race lets us give back to a number of groups.”
Volunteers are needed for Friday setup, along the race course and at the Rec Centre grounds.
“It can be hard to get volunteers,” said Julius. “A lot of people volunteer for Gran Fondo, then we’re a few after that, which can make it harder to attract people.
“But we have a great party. It’s a fun time, we have a band playing and the volunteers really enjoy themselves.
“And we’re all about keeping traffic flowing in town. We get the bridge closed for about 10 minutes; you wouldn’t even know we were there.”
The Road Race entry fee is $50 for the five km, and $70 for the 10 km and 21 km events.
For safety reasons, no wheelchairs, baby joggers, strollers, Burleys and pets will not be permitted on the race course.
To enter, visit www.runningroom.com. Those interested in volunteering should call Melissa’s at 403-762-5511 and ask for a manager to sign up.
